The life of your home is too precious to waste. That’s why it needs to be healthy on the inside, not just look spotless from the outside. So says Fuad Reveiz, star of the new DIY Network show, “Healthy Household Workshop.”

Owning a home today, he says, means dealing with chemicals and synthetic building materials. Dust, mold and mildew build, and the combined force can be potentially lethal. Add to these households people who suffer from allergies or people who are simply oversensitive to certain particles.

Reveiz, who for 10 years has owned a custom residential and commercial construction business in eastern Tennessee, knows how to solve these problems. Some solutions are fairly simple. His five-part series, “Healthy Household Workshop,” offers tips, basic information and on-air demonstrations on how to make your home a safer, cleaner and healthier environment. (The show premieres March 14 at 7 p.m. ET.)

The bottom line, Reveiz says, is to remain vigilant. Home health begins with making sure the air is properly filtered, and the very place to look first is the bathroom, where many home health troubles begin. All vents should be inspected to see that they are working properly.

“Look in the corners of the bathroom for black and green growths,” says Reveiz. “Then you’ve got a leak somewhere.” Sometimes, he says, the vents may lead to a harmful location. It’s not uncommon, Reveiz notes, for a vent to discharge in the attic.

Sometimes the air inside a house is dirtier than the house itself. A Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter, he says, recycles the particles, filters them of bacteria molecules and recirculates the air.

“A lot of people buy the cheapest air filter they can,” says Reveiz, “and they’ve got kids in the house.”

In the kitchen, he says, it’s the same thing: good ventilation. In this case, with the potential for smoke and food odors, an exhaust system is also necessary.

Homeowners should also consider purchasing an air purifier, Reveiz says.

HVAC filters should be changed frequently and as needed. Reveiz also recommends that filters have a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) rating in the high range, with the highest being 12.

“You can control your surroundings, especially what you are breathing in, especially the things you store inside the house,” says Reveiz. “Believe it or not, paint thinner is not considered hazardous by a lot of people. They feel like as long as they have it in the garage it’s all right, even if everything is not clearly well sealed.”

Mold and mildew can create allergens and toxic substances in homes. This can be caused by a water leak or an increase in humidity from a variety of sources, from leaky pipes in the bathroom to water creeping through the roof or gaps between windows and doors. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends a humidity level between 30 and 50 percent to fight mold and mildew.

“Try at least to build mulch beds around the house to let the water drain away from the house,” says Reveiz, “You’ll see the growth of mold and mildew with the collecting of water. Mold and mildew needs moisture to grow.”

The five-part “Healthy Household Workshop” will air regularly on DIY Network. For additional program dates and times, as well as step-by-step project instructions and resources related to the show, visit www.DIYnetwork.com.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development booklet “Help Yourself to a Healthy Home” is available at http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/helpyourself/index.cfm.